Jan. 26, 2010

Box Score

Junior G Lisa Welsome (Staten Island, NY) registered 17 points, five rebounds and three assists as Pace University defeated UMass Lowell, 69-58, Tuesday night in a Northeast-10 Conference women’s basketball clash at the Costello Athletic Center.

With the loss, UMass Lowell slipped to 11-7 overall and 7-7 in the NE-10 entering Saturday’s game at Southern Connecticut (1:30). Pace improved to 14-5 overall and 11-3 in the Conference and hosts Bentley Saturday at 1:30.

Sophomore F Sha’Nay Bushner (Akron, OH) led the River Hawks with 17 points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes as she converted 8 of 15 field goals and grabbed five offensive rebounds. Freshman C Sarah Bennett (Newark, OH) chipped in nine points and four rebounds.

Welsome shot 5 for 8 from the floor and 5 for 7 from 3-point range while senior F Taylor Losey (Bristol, CT) added 15 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore G Carol Johnson (New City, NY) chipped in 11 points and seven assists on 5-9 field goal shooting.

Neither team shot particularly well from 3-point range – Pace at 9-30 and UMass Lowell at 4-16 – but it was the Setters with the edge, 27-12, led by five from Welsome.

Pace opened the second half with a 13-2 spurt, led by three treys and a pair of free throws by Welsome, to grab a 48-26 lead nearly five minutes into the second half. Pace led 59-39 with 6:51 left to play, but UMass Lowell erupted for 11 straight points – led by treys from freshman G Bianca Simmons (Middletown, CT) and senior G Rahshala Valentine (Cincinnati, OH) – to cut the lead to 59-50 with 3:35 left to play.

Losey, however, countered with a jumper and a pair of free throws to keep the Setters ahead.

In the first half, UMass Lowell led early 17-12, but Pace embarked on an 18-5 run behind seven points from Losey and five from Johnson.